Severe delays on Elizabeth line again due to train fault at Paddington
- Faulty train blocks Elizabeth line between Paddington and Tottenham Court Rd
- Second issue involving rail defect in set of points in Hayes and Harlington area
Commuters once again faced major disruption on the Elizabeth line this morning after the central section of the network was blocked due to a broken down train.
A faulty train at Paddington station blocked the £19billion line through Central London[2] towards Whitechapel between Paddington and Tottenham Court Road.
A second issue involving rail defect in a set of points in the Hayes and Harlington area also hit services today, cancelling trains between Reading and Paddington.
This resulted in severe congestion building up, meaning passengers were stuck on trains which were terminated early. Disruption is expected until the end of today.
The problems continues a week of chaos for the line which has suffered major disruption [3]- after much of it was shut over the weekend for engineering works.
London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, a Liberal Democrat who is deputy chair of the the Transport Committee, was among those caught up in the chaos.
She tweeted today: 'An absolute nightmare commute this morning. First train late due to late running freight train. Second train late as a result of the first.
'Elizabeth line problems mean jubilee busier than normal. Jubilee trains delayed due to an incident at Canning Town. Happy days!'
Commuter Emma Louise tweeted Transport for London (TfL[4]), saying: 'You've delayed me Tuesday evening (21st), Weds morning and evening, Thurs morning and evening, Fri morning and evening, Mon (27th) morning, Tues morning and evening, Weds morning and evening, and this morning. Can I claim for each delay? Thank you. #ElizabethLine.'
The Elizabeth line was part suspended today. Pictured: File image of an Elizabeth line train
Judith Frank-Simon said: 'The lack of information this morning for the Elizabeth line is terrible. We sat outside Paddington for 20 minutes only being told it was a red signal and the train would now end there. Not one bit of info to say line was now suspended.'
And commuter Sally Greenbrook tweeted: 'I use the Elizabeth line all the time and generally I love it. But this morning we've been stuck outside Paddington for nearly an hour. The train went backwards for a bit and now sitting still again.'
It comes after MailOnline revealed last month how major reliability issues were continuing to plague the Elizabeth line [5]which opened 18 months ago.
Passengers have been complaining for months about the regularly poor service, with some stuck on trains in tunnels and others stranded on packed station platforms.
Following this website's investigation, Mayor Sadiq Khan apologised for the problems [6]and admitted the service was 'not good enough'.
References
- ^ Mark Duell (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ London (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ week of chaos for the line which has suffered major disruption (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ TfL (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ major reliability issues were continuing to plague the Elizabeth line (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Mayor Sadiq Khan apologised for the problems (www.dailymail.co.uk)